Information

Cancer Voices SA (CVSA) aims to “ensure patients and supporters are receiving the best possible information…”

Where to begin!

Start by calling The Cancer Council Helpline 13 11 20. Experienced cancer nurses or trained staff can provide information straight away by phone, and brochures can be posted out to you.

Search for information on the internet

Our website links are intended to provide a useful starting point of evidence based and reliable resources from sites in Australia and overseas. Be aware that there may be differences in treatment names and drug availability if listed on an overseas website.

Tips to access quality information

Not all the information you will find on the internet is accurate.

A few questions to always keep in mind when viewing any website are:

Who owns the website? Does it belong to a credible organisation, and is there potential ‘conflict of interest’ to sell products or services?

Who wrote the material? Are the authors identified, along with their authority to address the subject? Is there clear disclosure of the authors interest, purpose or mandate?

Is the information evidence-based, unbiased and reliable?

Are sources of the information identified?

Is the information up-to-date?

In general, information is more trustworthy when you find the same type of information on more than one website. Visit more than one website and compare what you find.

A recent study of cancer websites “urged patients to be skeptical of the information they find online and not to take action without talking to a physician“.

Find articles in the medical journals using PubMed - a bibliographic search initiative of the US National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health. There is free PubMed Online Training.

It is often frustrating to find articles that are ‘subscription access only’, but you can limit your search to journals with free full text articles. In PubMed, click on the ‘Limits’ tab and check the ‘Links to free full text’ before you perform your search. Alternatively, find links for these Online Free Journal Collections.